Media outlets access enhanced multi-platform content at no charge, with alerts when we have new content on issues or from regions you may select. Once we receive the filled out form below, you'll receive a message with the passcode/s. Welcome!

*These fields are required

*Media Outlet name

*Media Outlet City/State

Contact name

Contact phone

*Email address or fax #

*Media Outlet type

Additional (beyond the state you are located in) content that you would like to receive

Newscasts

PNS Daily Newscast - March 21, 2019

The nation’s acting Defense Secretary is under investigation for promoting Boeing, his former employer. Also on the Thursday rundown: The Trump administration’s spending blueprint being called a “bully budget.” Plus, a call for the feds to protect consumers from abusive lenders.

The reasons behind the rise are complicated, says CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden. But one thing is clear, there's a connection to opioid prescription painkiller addiction.

"The chemical is essentially the same," says Frieden "So, when heroin is five times cheaper and much more widely available, it becomes something that's driving this trend of rapid increase in heroin use."

It may be a case of unintended consequences, with Frieden explaining prescription painkillers became harder to obtain after limits were imposed because of addiction concerns.

The CDC report says 45 percent of those who have used heroin had been dependent on prescription painkillers. Another finding, people without health coverage are more likely to use heroin.

There's also been an uptick in heroin overdose deaths, more than 8,000 in 2013. Frieden says quality and potency varies on the street, and overdose-reverse medications aren't always readily available in emergency rooms, although he says that needs to change.

He underscores the need to keep opioid painkillers as medical treatment options despite the heroin connection, with pros and cons weighed carefully.

"If someone has excruciating pain from a surgical procedure, or a car crash, or a severe, terminal pain from cancer, you absolutely want to provide all palliation," says Frieden. "For chronic non-cancer pain, you really have to look at the risks and the benefits."

Recommendations for stemming the tide of heroin abuse include increased access to treatment, including medication-assisted treatments, recognition of the link between past prescription painkiller dependence and future heroin use and pain treatment plans for chronic sufferers that include options beyond medications.